Ingenue Mom

Veggies this week: Collard Greens Broccoli Early Red Onions Swiss Chard Radishes Loose Leaf Lettuce Tarragon Chives Lemon Balm My Meals This Week: Grilled Chicken with Tomato Tarragon I'm more excited about this meal with Tarragon than I was about last week's meal! CSA veggies used: tarragon, leftover garlic stem from last week Salsa Not exactly a meal, but I make fabulous salsa & I can use the red onion & some garlic from last week. CSA veggies used: red onion, garlic stem from last week Marinara Sauce with Collard Greens I use the Jamie Oliver marinara sauce recipe from one of his cookbooks. I think it's Jamie's Dinners. Basically it's just a bunch of tomatoes chopped up with garlic & olive oil. This time I'm going to chop up some collard greens & add that in too! CSA veggies used: collard greens, garlic stem from last week Stuffed Potatoes I'm creating my own stuffed potatoes this week! I'm going to make them the same as the recipe...

Here's how my meals from Week 1 ended up! Collard Greens Quiche This was really yummy!! I added onions, garlic & cheese!  Mexican Style Stuffed Potatoes with Buttercrunch Lettuce Salad The potatoes were awesome!! But neither of us were super crazy about the salad. I need to find a different way to use the lettuce. Lemon & Sage Roasted Chicken with Caramelized Endive I ended up just baking the chicken. The caramelized endive ended up very similar to spinach & it was good, but the recipe called for WAY too much butter. If I made it again, I'd use less than half that much butter. Baked Balsamic Chicken This was great, but I make this meal all the time so I knew it would be! :) I didn't end up making the mustard & tarragon chicken.

Today Isis and I went and picked up our first CSA share box for the year! This year they are putting them in these cute canvas bags so it was actually much easier for me to get it and get it in my house while also getting Isis inside!  Veggies this week: Collard Greens Green Onions Buttercrunch Lettuce Cilantro Oregano St. John's Wort Endive Garlic Stem Radishes 1 dozen eggs My meals this week: Collard Greens Quiche -I have a great crustless quiche recipe from a friend of mine where I basically just do 8 or 9 eggs, some sour cream, cheddar cheese and whatever veggies I want (this time Collard Greens) with some cheddar cheese on top. It's really easy and works great for any meal! I may add some garlic stems to this, too. CSA veggies used: collard greens, garlic stem, eggs Mexican-Style Stuffed Potatoes with a Buttercrunch Lettuce Salad - This just seemed like a simple meal! With the salad, I'm just doing the lettuce, some onion, broccoli and ranch dressing. CSA veggies u...

Last week was my birth stories guest blogger week, so I didn't post several things I normally do. One of those was my CSA share update! So I'm going to try to quickly cover 2 weeks in 1 this week. Last week, our share box had tomatoes, lemon cucumber, pickling cucumber, slicing cucumber, sweet corn, green beans, green pepper, banana pepper, poblano pepper, lemon basil, spicy globe basil, thai basil, chives, st johns wort, dill & stevia. Unfortunately, last week was also a week where we had a lot going on & we weren't home for as many meals as normal. I did make some mac & cheese with turkey bacon, corn & green beans one night. Isis also ate some cucumber with her meals several days! I made quick pickles & we had a teriyaki chicken & green pepper stir fry! This week, our share box has tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, slicing cucumbers, sweet corn, green beans, green peppers, banana peppers, swiss chard, sweet basil, sage & oregano!...

Notice the yummy papaya from Whole Foods in her mouth & then the Cocoa Puffs in the background. We definitely find ourselves somewhere in the middle... I'll admit that I've just recently heard the term " crunchy ." According to Urban Dictionary , the term refers to anyone who has "adjusted or altered their lifestyle for environmental reasons." It is a derivative of the word " granola ," which I actually have used before to describe things. A crunchy mama would then, in my mind, just be any mom who chooses to follow more environmentally conscious efforts with their children.  According to Urban Dictionary , and I guess many others, " crunchy mama " refers to a mom who "supports homebirth, breastfeeding, baby wearing, cloth diapering, co-sleeping, gentle discipline, etc. One who questions established medical authority; tends to be vegetarian and/or prepare all-organic foods." Well, I consider myself to be fairly environmenta...

I've been sharing about my CSA share experience & today we added to the experience by actually visiting the farm for a family day they were having! We got to go on a little tour & Isis got to meet some animals! We also got a delicious dinner, although we had to take ours to-go because Isis was ready to take a little nap. Here are some pics from the farm!! She was excited to be going to the farm!! First she met some chickens, roosters & guinea! They live in the Hen House. Then we saw the corn... ...and the tomatoes (along with a lot of other yummy vegetables that we will get to eat from our share boxes!) My favorite was probably the peacock named Peanut. Isis loved looking at the cows in the barn! Isis got a little warm in the barn - look at those rosy cheeks! The pigs were stinky, but kinda cute - there was a little one named Spot. Isis loved them! Overall I think Isis would recommend the CSA shares & the farm! Read more about our CSA experience !!

Today's share box is my favorite so far!! It has tomatoes, lemon cucumber, pickling cucumber, slicing cucumber, sweet corn, roma green beans, yellow wax beans, green peppers, banana peppers, eggplant, tarragon & sweet basil!! Here are the meals I have in mind: Pizza with black olives, green peppers & banana peppers Eggplant parmesan with green beans Quick Pickles (this is more of a snack) BBQ ribs with green beans & corn Tomato & basil pasta Chicken & peppers teriyaki stir fry Eggs!! And here are a couple of highlights from last week's share box meals: Lemon basil & red pepper chicken w/ broccoli, cucumbers & garlic bread Steak (from the farm) w/ grilled parsley potatoes & garlic bread (We love garlic bread.) We also discovered this week that Isis loves cucumber!! I held a piece & let her chew on it for a little while when we were cooking one night & she loved it so much that we stuck it in the Beaba Babycook & made her some c...

This week's CSA share box had tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, pickling & slicing cucumbers, swiss chard, potatoes, cinnamon basil, lemon basil, spicy globe basil, curly & flat parsley & lemon balm. We also got another dozen eggs. Here are my meal plans for this week, although I'm not sure yet which day we will eat each meal... Tomato pasta with the tomatoes & spicy globe basil Steak w/ steamed swiss chard cooked w/ onion, garlic & butter & also some potatoes w/ parsley Chicken w/ cinnamon basil, garlic green beans & some cucumber Chicken w/ lemon basil, steamed broccoli & cucumber Salad w/ chicken, sliced cucumber & lemon basil w/ a vinaigrette dressing Pizza w/ black olives Beet salad w/ the beets & cabbage left from last week Eggs w/ turkey bacon Has anybody cooked with swiss chard before?  How do you cook it? More CSA info here!

I already told you all about the fennel pasta salad & cucumber tomato salad that I made last week with the foods from my CSA share . I also made a pizza with the banana peppers from the share! I used a deep dish pizza crust mix (yeah I'm lazy), some Ragu pizza sauce, black olives & the banana peppers with cheese! It was yummy!! Then we made this tomato pasta with some more tomatoes & the fresh oregano! We just cooked the pasta, then put the tomatoes on the skillet for a minute with the oregano, olive oil, red pepper & smoked paprika (my husband is obsessed with smoked paprika - puts it on everything). Then we tossed all of it together with the pasta & some parmesan cheese! It was great for dinner & for lunch the next day!! Check out my previous CSA share meals & info !

Apparently Isis has an issue with cinnamon. We started putting it in her rice cereal because she liked it a lot better with it in there! We never noticed any sort of allergy problem. No change in breathing, BMs, tummy trouble or anything, but we started to notice this faint pink around her mouth after she'd eat it. We didn't think a lot of it because the food gets all over her anyway, we just thought maybe it was something about the way she was eating. Then, the other day, we bought some new cinnamon because we ran out of our old. It was sort-of old anyway. I mean, still fine in terms of being okay to eat, just not as potent as new cinnamon. Well, the new cinnamon caused problems. Still no tummy or BM changes, but the faint pink around her mouth got more red & went down her neck a little - it went anywhere that the cinnamon had touched - her hands, arms, etc. Here's a picture, although it's kinda hard to see - I took this with my iPhone. But we started looking it...

Tonight I made the Fennel, Bean & Pasta Salad! I also made a Cucumber & Tomato Salad! I think they both turned out really well!! (These pictures were taken with my phone. Sorry they're not great looking foodie blog pictures.) Fennel, Bean & Pasta Salad - I posted the recipe here . This was really different! We had never had fennel before. My husband preferred to eat it heated up rather than chilled, but I ate it cold. It was good, I just don't think I'm a huge fan of fennel. I need to find some other ways to cook it to see if I like it better in different recipes! Cucumber & Tomato Salad Ingredients Dashes of red-wine vinegar (to taste) Pinch of sugar Dash of olive oil 2 tomatoes 1 green cucumber 1 yellow cucumber Handful of feta cheese Handful of fresh, chopped thai basil I just chopped this all up & mixed it together & voila!! It was delish!!! CSA food used: Fennel bulb Cucumber Lemon Cucumber Tomatoes Thai Basil

I picked up our first CSA share today!! I'm so excited about doing this!! The box today included carrots, beets, cabbage, fennel, banana pepper, tomatoes, lemon cucumber, cucumber, scallions, white radish, thai basil, sage, oregano, chives, st. john's wort & sunflowers! We also got 10 lbs of meat & a dozen eggs. The meat was a one-time purchase & we'll get more when we run out. The eggs are a weekly thing. Tonight I made a vegetable soup with some frozen vegetables I'd already gotten, but I added the carrots from the share & some fresh oregano! Lewis said it was the best vegetable soup I've ever made!! The fresh carrots & herbs definitely added some extra flavor that you just don't get from frozen veggies. Tomorrow, I'm going to make a Fennel, Bean & Pasta Salad with a recipe that was included in the newsletter the farm provided to us. Here's the recipe: Ingredients: Fennel bulb, remove leafy tops & reserve 1 small onion o...

I got the Beaba Babycook last week & I was so excited to start using it!! I bought some frozen organic peas & frozen organic sweet potatoes from Whole Foods & was super pumped to make Isis' meals for the week! I love that everything is in the same container & you just dump the food from the basket down into the part with the blades when you're ready to puree.  We started with the peas. You put water in the steamer part on the left & then you put a little more water in the bottom of the bowl on the right. It will defrost & then cook your food. Then you dump it out of the basket it's in - you can't really see that, my pictures aren't zoomed or anything - & you puree in the bowl. Here are the sweet potatoes diced & cooked & in the bottom of the bowl to be pureed. Then we pureed them! You can see the dial on the left. You point it toward the left to defrost, reheat or cook & you point it to the right to puree. I also got 2 f...

Since having Isis & recently starting her on solid foods, we have really done some research on food. It's such a basic part of all of our lives & you'd think we'd be interested in it already, but it has really changed for us since we became responsible for another life. We feel like we have just a few years to really provide her with a great nutritional start in life & we want to do the best we can. This had led to several conclusions for us. We've done a lot of research & had a lot of discussion. This is something every parent has to do on their own & they may come to different conclusions than we have. I personally don't believe that the conclusions are the important part with this topic. I think it's the research & the interest in providing what you feel is best for your child. Here are our conclusions: We want Isis to eat organic as much as is within our power to provide this for her. We will not be feeding her red meat for several y...

I think she liked it!! I was expecting her to hate it and not get any of it in her mouth, but I think she did pretty good!! I'm totally embarrassed by my baby voice in this video, but what are ya gonna do?

Image Source I am definitely going to be one of those annoying moms that won't let my kids eat fast food ( except Chick-fil-a, remember ). There are several reasons for this including non-organic meats, calories, processed foods and preservatives. I understand that lots of people can argue about the hormones in non-organic meat and things like that, but this post about a woman who kept a McDonald's happy meal for 12 months and it DIDN'T DECOMPOSE just proves that my argument about lots of preservatives is completely valid. I understand there could be arguments about this and I'm thinking about doing my own experiment of the sort. I just tend to believe that fresh foods for kids are going to be a lot better in the long run! I'm not trying to start an argument. Just sharing my opinion. Also - if you haven't heard about Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution on ABC , read my post on my Ingenue Perspective blog!! Click here!!